Heart of a Soldier
by dannysdrogo
Summary: Max never escaped the school. She belongs to them. She never became leader of the flock and therefore doesn't know Fang or the rest of the flock so when the school sends her in to capture them she's ready to go. But then she gets to know them. Through the process of tracking them down she discovers which side she was truly meant to fight for... AU
1. Doctor, what's my misson?

_ Ch1: Doctor, what's my mission?  
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"Do you remember anything about that day, the day the experiments escaped?" He asked, his dark eyes boring into mine.

"You've asked me this before, and I'll tell you again. I don't remember _anything_ about that day except waking up with a welt on my head. Yep, that one that _you _gave me," I lied. The day was too personal to tell and, besides, I _did_ remember it clearly.

_It had begun like any other, with me running laps inside of the gym with the other experiments. I remember running with five other experiments, now I ran with one. _

If my memories hadn't betrayed me yet, the other experiments were wonderful characters. One had long dark hair that fell at his shoulders; another had a lanky, slim build with pale green eyes. Two of them, had glowing blond hair and bright blue eyes; and another had long, curly brown hair that ran well past her shoulders. I had never forgotten them.

_We had been exercising as they normally had us do, when out of the corner of my eye, a dark figure slipped out of the room but before I could turn around and go get him, my arm was yanked and in front of me stood a tall man in a white lab coat that I now knew as the man sitting across from me, Dr. Huey._

_He grabbed my arm and led me to a machine that was set in a small room that had glass walls on opposing sides, The whole time he led me, I kept glancing through the glass at the people who were slowly disappearing from the gym and how I was stuck in an examination room. I wanted to go after them._

_Dr. Huey began poking, prodding at me. He checked my heart rate, body mass and things like that, but before he could finish, an alarm went off and the room began flashing red. I remember the sirens hurting my ears, how they throbbed the day after. "CODE RED: EXPERIMENTS ESCAPING! CODE RED: EXPERIMENTS ESCAPING!"_

_That is when I realized that this wasn't normal, and that I was an experiment. One that, apparently, wasn't supposed to escape._

Just thinking about it made my head hurt. I rubbed my temples and he took the time to ask me another question. "Just asking. I needed to know if you had any prior knowledge to what we are asking of you, because, Max, you're special to this operation and if you know anything, it would be greatly appreciated if you told me anything."

_ And when the lights started flashing red, the booming steps of security guards pounded by the door, followed by Dr. Huey's frantic shouting. "Find them immediately! Leave no place empty, no door unlocked! Please, just find them!"_

_And I, being scared and only ten years old, was horrified. I opened the door to see an empty track before me. The alarm had stopped blaring by now, but the gymnasium was deserted and pale blue light crept through the windows near the ceiling. A hand clamped itself down on my mouth and I screamed from surprise, although no one could hear me._

_ The hand wouldn't budge, so I bit down on it, hard. My attacker let go, "What'd you bite me for?"_

_ "Well, if you're going to sneak up on people…" I explained innocently._

_"Whatever. Just come with me; we need to hurry." He assured me, taking my hand and leading me out of the gym, but I snatched my hand away from his. I didn't understand._

_ "Why? Where are we going?"_

_ "Away from here. We just can't stay here," he said. Every few seconds he glanced around as if someone were coming. I hoped someone would. He was scaring me._

_ "Why not? You've never said anything about this before." I stared ahead, his face still uncertain, but even so he pushed on._

"Okay, then I guess this is the right time to explain, huh?" He chuckled, but my expression remained solemn.

"I'd only think so."

"The reason you're here is because of those children you used to play with. Their names were Iggy, Fang, Gazzy and Angel," he explained.

I started to remember even more, the descriptions finally matching the faces and names. My expression remained the same. "Yes... so?"

"When we make experiments, their brains fully develop earlier than normal humans, therefore they were smarter. When their brains fully developed, they suddenly decided that they didn't want to be here... and left. We haven't seen them since."

"And what does that have to do with me, Dr. Huey?" I said, puzzled, more of my memories coming back to me.

He smiled chillingly. "It has everything to do with you, Miss Ride and please, call me Don."

"If you really want me to..."

_"But why? We've always lived here." I tried to reason with him, but I think he was beyond reasoning. I think he had planned the attack on my home. "Fang, did you do this?"_

_ Fang nodded, his lips pursing into a thin line. He looked away from me, and somehow I couldn't meet his eyes either. "We all did. These people, they mistreat us and we can't do anything about it, but only now we can," he says, a glimmer about his eyes. "And I want you to join us."_

_ My mouth dropped; I had never expected him to do something so devious. He wanted me to join him, to run away? "What about everyone else?"_

_"They're all outside waiting for us; it's now or never, Max. Only if you run... with us," he said, his dark eyes shining into mine._

_"But where will we go?" I asked, some part of me still wanting to stay here, away from the big bad world. But most of all, I wanted to be safe._

_"I'm not exactly sure on the details, but I was thinking someplace North. Anyplace is better than here," he said, taking my hand. The footsteps around us grew louder and my heart felt like it was about to burst. His fast-paced talking didn't help me much. "Can we please go? The guards are bound to get here any minute and catch us. I can answer all your questions later, but now I need you to come with me. I've been planning this for so long that it cannot fail and if it makes you feel better; I've got some humans on the outside that are willing to help us. Please, don't be stub-"_

_His sentence was stopped short when three guards came around the corner yelling, "Stop right there!"_

_Fang turned around, alarmed. As soon as he saw the guards he wrapped his arms around my waist and took a running start. The air tore around me and strands of hair, both mine and his, hit me in the face like dry whips. He stopped at the windowsill, his jet black wings unraveled behind him, and turned to face me. "Jump. We can get to the rest of the flock by morning."_

_The flock? By morning? "But I've never flown before; I'll just fall on my face."_

_"It's like an instinct. Once you start going, it'll come natural to you. Please Max, it'll be... amazing."_

He shook my hand, catching me off guard. "Excellent. Your things have been packed and you will be sent out tomorrow."

My heart faltered. "Why so fast? I don't think I'm ready, Don."

"Don't worry. It's like and instinct. Once you start going, it'll come natural to you," he cooed, words slowly seeping into my mind. He sounded like... Fang.

"Will it be... amazing?"

"Odd choice of words, but yes. I think it'll be wonderful," he smiled.

"Can I trust them?" I asked. Were they good people?

"No," he said simply. "They are not to be trusted."

"Why not?"

"Because they are evil, rogue experiments who could not appreciate all that we have given them. After all, they did leave you all alone," he coaxed. Like icing on the cake.

They did leave me alone, I remembered. They never did come back...

_I unfurled the wings that I have barely used, letting them flutter for a second then flapping them wildly. I rose an inch off of the ground and I freaked out. I stopped flapping and started falling, but caught myself by gripping the ledge of the windowsill. I screamed for Fang. He bent down to me, trying to help me up. "Fang!"_

_"Please stop screaming," he whispered, for the guards hadn't seen us fly away, because it was so dark in this lock down. But now, they could hear my screaming loud and clear, readily leading them towards us. I never did know why I had screamed so much, but now I realize that before that day, I had never been in any type of life-threatening danger. The only danger I had ever faced was wrestling Iggy when he tried to steal my desserts(I remember him having a thing for sweets) so now I was all alone in this feeling. I stopped screaming._

_But I was too late. The guards yanked me from the ledge. Fang called for me, "Max no!"_

_"Fang, help me!" I screamed, but the guards pulled me further and further back. No matter how much I kicked and screamed, they held onto me and stripped me of my freedom._

_Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the other guard swatting at him, but to this Fang looked at me. I could see the outline of his face, the hurt and raw rage that he was suppressing. I wouldn't accept defeat. I continued to thrash in their arms, harder and harder because now I understood what Fang meant. I was not free. I was an experiment, a oppressed experiment and I needed to fly free with people like myself._

_The guards didn't like how much I was moving and only held me tightened, finally constricting my movement, placing a blow to my head. So I could only watch as Fang slipped out of the window, as the black blur took off into the night, whispering to myself, "They'll come back for me."_

_Only they never did._

The next day, I was given the new clothes and possessions that I was promised, before being boarded on a plane with another experiment, Dylan. We sat down in seats near the window next to Dr. Huey, who happened to be escorting us there. I was quiet, wondering how different it would be living without the and I sat down in the seats next to Don, who happened to be escorting us there. I was quiet, wondering how different it would be living without the scientists.

"You'll be just fine," Dylan whispered to me, playing with a strand of my hair absentmindedly. I only wished I could believe him. "Just fine."

A flight attendant walked down the aisle a few hours later. "Please buckle your seatbelts. We'll be arriving in Phoenix shortly."

How was it? Please review.


	2. The wonders of the modern world

_Ch2: Foreign Habitat_

Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews for the first chapter; they're greatly appreciated. There were also some complaints about my writing being a little hard to understand so I hope this clears a few things up.

"Dylan, can you pass me that box-cutter?" I asked, irritably. I was feeling restless and uncomfortable ever since we had come to Arizona. Here, it was hotter, people spoke their minds, and apparently wore less clothing. Yeah, and I had a feeling that I was going to have a bit of trouble fitting in, not that I was expecting anything else. I was a freak, nothing more or less.

Dylan handed me the tool and began the normally swift process of opening boxes, but today I seemed to be having problems and the sharp end nicked the inside of my palm. I muttered curses.

Dylan looked up from his work with arranging our loft, first by discovering the contents of each box. "Max, you okay?"

"Yeah, just a little stressed." His eyes slowly made their way back down to the package he was fumbling with. I watched him for a moment, and he seemed to notice my eyes on him, looking back up at me. "Hey, so what do you feel about this whole school thing? I mean, you're so calm about it."

"Hmm," he pondered for a second. "I mean, the way I see it why should I have to worry?"

I didn't understand his logic. "Why shouldn't you worry? There are so many people that you haven't met before and we're not the most experienced in interacting with people…"

"I figure we'll fit in where we need to. You shouldn't get so worked up about it," he says nonchalantly, pulling old pictures from the box that Don suggested we hang to make the bare walls seem more "homely". He sets it into a pile of decorations. "After all, it's nothing like TV."

"Jeez, I know that," I drawl, but can't help getting excited. I open my navy suitcase, to see just what Don has gotten for me to wear. The first article of clothing is a button-up burgundy shirt, the second is a polo burgundy shirt, and the third is a rough wool burgundy sweater. I am seeing a pattern here. I push back all of the burgundy clothes to see underwear, bras, socks. Deep under that are more white polo's, button-ups and under that there are an overload of chinos and cargo khakis.

"What the he…"? Something was certainly wrong here. Did he really expect me to wear this?

Dylan looks up once more. "What's up?"

"Look at my clothes. I feel like I'm going to a private school with all these matching colors," I said to no one in particular. So this is what going to an actual school is like. You get uniforms, all matching the other students, and you get rules. I skimmed the code of conduct. _All skirts must meet the knee, no flashy accessories, no tight clothing… _I smirked. That wasn't too bad to follow.

I threw the assortment of clothes, no pun intended, back into the suitcase. "Dyl is it just me, or are your clothes as drab as mine?"

He unzips his case, and peers inside, pulling out clothes similar to mine and his dress code. He shakes his head. "Nope, and apparently, I can't sag my pants…"

"I never dreamed the day you would," I joked, finally starting to work instead of dilly-dallying while Dylan did the rest. I folded the clothes and put them into their respective drawers without breaking a sweat, managing to line up our shoes next to the exit. Dylan called me back into the room.

"Help me decorate?" He says without looking up from the pile of stuff that we were supposed to decorate with. I nodded, grabbing a few frames and electronics. I hung up a few of the pictures around the place, one in the kitchen, one in the bathroom, one my bedroom and I finally returned to his with the last picture. I set it down on his dresser, facing his mattress.

"And for that alarm clock…" I murmured to myself. I placed it in my room, remembering how lazy he is in the mornings.

I returned to where Dylan was sitting in the family room, noticing that he was finished. The room looked as if someone had lived there for years. I pat him on the back, as if to say 'good job'. "What now?"

He looked around, wondering if there was something else we had forgotten to do, but I knew there was not. If you looked inside of each cabinet, each nook and cranny, it would have something in it that showed we were normal people. That is, I soon realized, except the Fridge and our closets. The fridge was bare except for the snacks we had brought in our carrions and our closets were full of uniforms with no trace of normal clothing.

Dylan noticed me thinking, exactly as I got an idea. He knitted his eyebrows, only beginning to understand what I thought. Finally, he sighed, a sign of submission to me. "What are you thinking?"

"Well…" I started off. "I was thinking that with all the money that Jeb gave us, it wouldn't hurt to cash a little of it. We do need food to eat afterschool, and regular clothes to wear outside and to bed…"

"Do you think we should really be spending that money?"

"Well, he gave it to us so why shouldn't we? Don't you remember what he said…"?

"_Take this money," he said, stuffing the wads of cash into our pockets and carrion bags. "Use this whenever you need it whether it is for food or clothes or if you want to just go to a movie. I won't be with you all the time because I have some important business to attend to here, so I'm trusting you with a huge responsibility here."_

_Dylan scratched his head in confusion, stuffing the money into his new leather wallet. "Just how long are we going to be staying here?"_

"_A few weeks…" he trailed off, his voice lowering to a scarce whisper. "…maybe a year."_

"_A whole year?" I exclaimed. "We did _not_ agree to that."_

"_Don't worry about it, Maxie. Money is no object. If you need, I'll send you a thousand dollars next month, every month from now on. So don't worry about something being too expensive for you to get? Got it?"_

_I gulped as we nodded our heads simultaneously. "Good."_

"…about the money?"

"Yeah," he said, scratching his head. "…let's make it quick. It's way too hot here to be out too long anyways," he said, already our room keys.

We arrived at the store a few minutes later by following the intersections on a map that we had been given earlier this morning. Beads of sweat rolled down my forehead, not from tiredness, but from the massive heat. What amazed me even more was that as soon as we stepped inside the store, the temperature dropped at least fifteen degrees and the perspiration on my neck vanished almost immediately. The wonders of the modern world. Maybe we _could _stay awhile.

I glanced up. The building seemed to be made up of several rooms; each one selling something completely different from the other with small stands dotted in-between selling jewelry or mobile phones. We sampled all of these, and not wanting to bore ourselves with the details of our shopping trip. What we found much more interesting, was the grocery store.

I pushed the metal, grey shopping cart down the narrow isles as Dylan picked things that we should buy. So far, it consisted of cheap produce and bread. I pick up the loaf, examining its quality in my hands. I'd had enough of his penny pinching. "Don't you think we could ease up with the cheapness? I say that as long as the cash is flowing, we should live it up."

"I guess." He reluctantly let me remove everything from the cart, replacing it with nicer looking items and canned fruit. Dylan watched me carefully, as if this were a life lesson. In fact, it was.

His eyes widened as something caught his eye in the freezer section. He slid open the glass door and pulled out a small, plastic package. He frowned a second, calling out to me about a package that needed to be put into a microwave for a maximum of three minutes. "Max, what's a mi-cro-wave?"

Wheeling the cart to his side, I sneak a glance at the package. "I… don't know."

"Do you think we need one to make this?"

"Yeah, I think we do," I reply, smiling. This was going to be the first of our many adventures on the outside, in civilization. And I was actually looking forward to it, but for now I think we may need to head to another store to find the first of many modern wonders… the microwave.


	3. Not getting the memo

**Sorry about not updating for so long; I just couldn't find the time to write. So forgive me. Note that Dylan and Max have been close and indeed in a platonic relationship ever since meeting. **Anyways, this is a filler of how most of their first day went. **Expect lovely pairings and action.**

Ch3: _School & not getting the memo_(Max's pov)

_And you swayed in the moon the way you did when you were young…_

The sound of the alarm clock wakes me up with its wacky, offbeat tune. I wipe my eyes groggily and hit the large button on the top labeled 'snooze'. The music stopped abruptly. I glanced around the room at the foreign space before me. I almost ached for the dull of the lab's grey walls and the comforting near silence it had created, the only sounds that penetrated being the guard's footsteps outside your door. _Almost_, she found herself thinking. At least here, I wake up to music like I used to. Like a lullaby I remember being sung to me…

I remember when we were young, a certain experiment used to sing to me and for the life of me, I couldn't remember her name. But I did remember that the music that wafted from the doors of the scientist's staff lounge, would be reproduced beautifully by her, at least ten times better than whoever had originally sung it. I cleared my throat and tried to sing.

"_And you swayed in the moon the way you did when you were younger, where we told everybody all we need is now…" _I ended up trailing off. My voice didn't sound as pretty or nearly as emotion-filled as hers did. Instead it came out breathy and a bit off key. I cleared my throat again, alone and embarrassed.

Pulling the sheets over my legs, I faced the sunlight streaming through the window. The room seemed even more alien with the sun revealing everything we had splurged on. There were piles of clothes in the corner and a smart phone charging soundly in an outlet. Rolling off the bed, I pick up the phone and touch the screen, the device coming to life. The time was seven-thirty. Huh. School started at eight o'clock.

A sweat breaking out on my forehead, I pull out a uniform from my closet and yank it on and if I must say so myself, I look pretty good in the khaki skirt and burgundy button up top. I pull on matching knee-high socks and black Mary Janes and am out of the bedroom to rouse my kin. Dylan is sitting at the table, sipping what looked like chocolate milk and examining our schedules. He looked like someone from a magazine, like more of a father figure than he ever did.

He cocked his eyebrow. "It's about time you got up. You know, school is starting in about twenty minutes?"

I rolled my eyes, examining his attire. He was cute in his khaki dress pants, his white button up and burgundy sweater vest, "Yeah, I knew but I can't help commenting on your clothes. You look so cute, Dyl. Prepare for the forthcoming avalanche of ladies."

"Ha ha," he replies nonchalantly but we both know that underneath that cool demeanor he's bouncing round inside, just waiting to meet someone new and maybe make a friend.

He hands me a book bag already filled with brand new notebooks, pencils, and other stuff I'd imagine you'd you use at a school. We venture outside of the apartment, making sure to grab our keys and cells before leaving, each other's number already programmed inside. Dylan was glancing around at the building, wondering which one could possibly be our school. I was guessing that it would be big if it's supposed to be filled with so many children. High school students.

That reminded me, I reminded myself. We were supposed to be tenth graders. "Found it yet?"

"Nope. Don told me it was around this area," he mumbled to himself. He said, "Look for 20730 on this street."

"Found it," I said truthfully. We had been wandering around it this whole time, around the back entrance where teacher's cars were parked. "We have to circle around it for a student entrance."

After a few minutes of walking, which turned into a few seconds of racing, he beat me to the front, never showing a sign of exhaustion. We enter the school and immediately undergo a culture shock. Here we were dressing in the appropriate uniform. The kids here didn't even follow it. There were girls dressed in miniskirts and (red and yellow) t-shirts. There were boys sagging, shirts untucked and hanging loose. Hmm. Maybe we had missed the memo.

After going through the metal detector, we went to the office where we were given school identification cards and personally escorted to our first class by our guidance counselor, Mr. Davis. I had economics first, and Dylan had geometry. Our first class, and already we had to part ways. Dylan's class was on the second floor and mine was on the third all the way in the back of the school, which was conveniently near my locker, which was in a cold corner, out of the way of all student life.

"Room 325, Economics. Go ahead and have a seat, Miss Martinez. I'm sure you'll have fun in this class," he assured me, but somehow his faux smile was not convincing me. His nervousness was telling me otherwise.

I entered the room and all eyes immediately flew to me. I cringed; they were making me nervous. The teacher however hadn't noticed me, "…flip to page 275 in the books and look at the line graph. I want you to start looking at the stock patterns so that you can mimic it for your project..." He notices their eyes. "What are you looking at?" He directs at his students, before he notices me. "Can I help you?"

"I'm a new student."

"Right, I was supposed to be getting one of those," he said, referring to me as if I were an object. I decided to dismiss it, silently crying on the inside. "Students, this is Anna Martinez, a new student here. She's a sophomore."

"Hi Anna," they said robotically before returning to previous conversations. He sat me in the back desk that he never anticipated using and I doodled in a crisp notebook for the rest of the hour. This is basically how most of my classes went—my notebook was filled with tons of drawings—that is, except for one of my last hours of the day, Choir. Room 129.

After such a boring day with only one class with Dylan, I came to the choir room, which was located across from the gym. I peek inside of the room, which already has students inside. Most of them were huddled in groups chatting or running around horse playing like toddlers, but the main event seemed to be two girls standing in the front, arguing fiercely over something. I took a deep breath and prepared to go in, but someone was getting ticked off, as they needed to go in too so I opened the door and set my things down on a desk in the front of the classroom and looked around for a teacher. There was none at the moment so I ended up taking a seat.

The fight had moved to the front of my desk and was escalating. In front of me, the girls were still fighting. One had long blonde wavy hair, a button nose and icy blue eyes. Her cheeks were the tiniest bit flushed. "Krys, you can't play her. You're not Hispanic!"

"So what?" She replies, hands on her hips. The other girl had similarly wavy hair but the curls were smaller and tighter and her hair was long and black, stopping in the middle of her back. "Ever heard of colorblind casting? Come on, Ariel, she's one of the best characters. I don't want a small part. I'm one of the best actors here!"

" I know you are but yo have to put into consideration that this is our only chance to show Ms. Carey that we can do modern numbers correctly. And, in my opinion, if you're doing colorblind casting then you have to do it in its entirety instead of doing it for just one person. Just because you're my best friend, I can't go changing the whole play for you."

"So what are you going to do?" The girl named Krys says.

"Since you are one of the best voices, you are playing Jo. The play is in a month so there's no way you're learning a whole other part when you've got this one down pretty well. We'll probably use Lissa anyways. She's all we have," the other girl says. I can't follow what's going on, not that I actually care to.

"Are you trying to put me in a heart attack? You know full and well that someone with that much _"star quality" _as Lissa is only good for playing someone like Marie," Krystal replies, doing Jazz hands to emphasis the phrase star quality. I figured that it was an insult because they both snickered for a minute before settling on a sigh.

"It's just that since the seniors left last year, we have nothing in our arsenal. We're just so helpless," she sighs before glancing at the casting list a final time. "We shouldn't have tried to do something as reckless as this. I mean, how in the hell are we gonna perform this musical when no one wants to be Mel; she's basically the star of the play?"

"All the guys here are scared, that's why. I mean, so what if you have to dress up as a girl for ninety percent of the time you act? It's supposed to be about the…" Krystal takes out the jazz hands again, but this time does it a bit less enthusiastically as if saying this fact saddened her. "…exposure, not whether your girlfriend will take you seriously anymore. Those girls make me so damn angry with their wining. I don't know if you've heard of it ladies, but it's called _acting _for a reason. It never translates to real life."

"Nudge, don't get yourself so worked up. I'm sure we can find someone for the part," Ariel patted her friend on the back, her eyes misbelieving.

"So what are you going to do?" Krys says, her dark eyes glaring at no one in particular. "Give the parts to some random dudes? Look around; there is no one here that can even fit the role."

"Well, even though I don't normally act, I was thinking of finding a brunette wig and being Maureen. I mean, Lissa has that mop of unruly red hair, can only play fashionistas and, I was thinking that it was about time I get back into playing people instead of directing them. And for Mimi, I'm not so sure. Even if we could find someone that looked like her, I doubt they'd know how to be that provocative. Most girls are… shy. Especially about that sort of thing."

"Ang, you're directing this and you need to find someone for Mel and Marie soon, or Ms. Carey is gonna give the job to someone else. You've got the rest of them picked out sure, but for those two, look around we're all you've got. _These _are all the actors you've got. Make a pick, and fast."

Ariel looked around the room, scanning it carefully, her gaze falling a bit each time, until it rested on me. As soon as her eyes hit my face, it heated up and butterflies appeared in my stomach, ebbing at the fear I was growing of being noticed like this. She stepped forward and each second she got closer I could feel myself going _oh no, oh no oh no! I'm not the girl you want. _"Hey, what's your name?"

Looking up with a plastered on smile, I reply. "I'm Anna… Martinez."

As soon as the word _Martinez _exited my mouth, her eyes widened as if she's just found a million dollars and as it turned out, she had. I was her a million dollars and soon I found out, her Mimi. She grabbed my shoulders, staring into my eyes with much passion. "Anna, where the hell have you been all my life?"

"What? I just transferred here and this is my class. Choir right?"

She abruptly let go of me, weighing her hands like a scale. "No, this is Drama so I'm guessing you're a godsend. _God_ am I so happy. Keep this class okay, Anne? You have a greater purpose now, understand?"

Ariel waited for me to respond, to whom I nodded blankly, "Um, I don't understand what's going on here?"

Ariel squealed as she and Nudge, who had just tuned back into the conversation, jumped up and down. "Anna, Krys and I are officially recruiting you for a part in our little high school production. You are now Marie Marquez. Please tell me you'll do it. It's easy all you have to do is learn a few lyrics and moves and that's it, I promise. It'll take a lot of commitment and you'll miss a lot of class but I believe in yo—!"

Without even thinking, I blurted out. The words "missing class" just called out to me, I guess. "I'll do it!"

Ariel and Krystal look at each other a moment, unbelieving. They both are unsure, replying. "You'll do it?"

I nodded. "She'll do it?"

"She'll do it! She'll do it!" This only caused the squealing to heighten, Ariel pulling me into their group hug. They near squeezed the life out of me with all their giddiness and I started to believe that I had gained a new friend. Meanwhile, the class stares with confusion only a few moments before turning back to their conversations.

As they kept hugging me, I began to realize something. I'd never had a real friend before, just appointed ones.

**So, what did you think? Please, drop a review because feedback makes me happy and the story better.**


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